Intermezzo II

Intermezzo

Esal looked about his confines ruefully. He should’ve been more careful, why would Caeilie have come to his house anyway?

Oh well. He sighed, at least it is roomy. His current confine was a hollow tower. There were a few small slits for windows letting in only the slightest light. There was an arched door on the ground constructed from sturdy timber, it had a small window with bars running vertically along it. The ground of the tower was covered in dust from lack of use, it had a small set of wooden steps up to a wooden platform that covered half of the tower. On it was a small chair, which looked close to collapse, and a tiny table tucked away. There was a second set of steps up to another level that covered the other half, a troll’s height up. It had a bed under the slit of a window. All things considered, this was the nicest prison he had been in. He was sitting, back against the wall, on the ground looking at the door as if his will would force it open – this plan failed. His thoughts returned to how he had been captured – Caeilie arriving at his door. Sadly, that meant one obvious fact, Caeilie was dead. From what Esal knew of him, he was quite an interesting fellow. That also meant that Evil was having more involvement this time.

He heard the sound of footsteps nearing his door and stood up to greet them. Carefully, he headed towards the door.

‘Greetings Esal.’ A figure said, standing in front of the window, ‘How are you, old friend?’

‘Greetings..., as I recall, “old friend”, you’ve never introduced yourself to me.’ Esal replied calmly.

‘Indeed I haven’t.’ The figure said, he paused for a moment as if to properly introduce himself, ‘Oh well. How have you been?’

‘Oh, you know, quite good, all things considered. I heard mumblings in the darkness about your promotion, congratulations.’

‘Ah, so you did hear about that. Good, it saves me having to think up a way to introduce it. In fact, my new employees are arriving as we speak.’ He pointed to the window.

Esal, curious to see the army this creature has inherited from its previous owner, Jayon, shuffled over to the window. He looked out and cocked his eyebrow from amusement, ‘Yes, your army looks thoroughly terrifying. And I’m sure they are great warriors, but there are only six of them.’

The figure looked at Esal, ‘Six..., that’s not rig- oh, the other window.’

Esal complied by shuffling up to the middle floor and looking out of the window. Before him, thousands of troops, all in similar dark armour with blood-red highlights, stood assembling. His jaw was forced down from shock.

‘Impressive, eh?’ The creature chuckled.

Esal returned to the door, ‘I’ve seen better. So, what happened to you being a god? Now you are just a lackey?’

‘I am a vital part of the plan.’

Esal began to chuckle, ‘It was worth being captured just to hear you think that you are important.’

‘I would like to stay around and taunt you with my freedom,’ he swung on his heel and moved away from the window, revealing a ‘L’ shaped corridor that includes a room at the corner. He moved around the corner and called back, ‘But I have a date with D-‘

‘If you say Destiny, I will break out of this jail and punch you.’

The figure, now in the guise of Shandor for a sense of familiarity, ‘I wasn’t about to say ‘Destiny’.’

‘Oh really?’ Esal chuckled, ‘Then what were you going to say? “I have a date with Donna”?’

The creature’s eyes flared with anger as he mumbled, ‘Oh fine, I was going to say ‘Destiny’. Are you happy now?’

‘Immensely. I will still beat you for it though.’

The creature grinned, ‘I am terrified by you, especially in the current state. I mean, the beard is a nice touch to scare me.’

Esal ran a hand over his chin while the creature continued to grin. It swung on its heel and disappeared around the corner again. Esal sighed and returned to his seat on the ground.